Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 489: The shocking arrival of the black technology virtual equipment
"In terms of the commercialization strategy of virtual devices, we plan to adopt three combinations: entry-level, high-end configuration and flagship level!"

Qu Xuewen pointed to the PPT and said, "This is the entry-level virtual device we planned. It uses a large number of mature parts and components, including computing chips and sensors. In order to reduce costs, many of the parts and components are sensors and chips used in smart robots and Hailan cars!"

"For the core computing center, we plan to use two APO4600 graphics cards and two ZY34 big data processing chips. We have calculated that although the computing power of this computing center is relatively tight, it can still meet the minimum operating requirements of the entire system!"

"Other auxiliary chips are also mainly mature chips, and sensors such as lidar also use mature products!"

"In this way, we can reduce the cost of the most expensive computing chips and sensors!"

"However, in order to provide the most basic picture quality and the operating speed of the virtual space, we will choose the latest generation of CPUs, the flagship H8 series high-end CPUs using the 5-nanometer process, and the consumer-grade gaming graphics card X graphics card that also uses the -nanometer process."

"The screen will also use the latest generation of ultra-high-resolution OLED screen provided by Huaxing Technology."

"In theory, although the prices of our three virtual device versions are very different, there will be no actual difference in the display screen and game smoothness, because they are basically the same!"

"The difference lies in the motion posture system. The entry-level version is limited by the sensor and computing power, so it is much worse than the flagship version. According to theoretical values, the difference is about five times, but in actual experience, the difference is not too big and is within an acceptable range!"

"Coupled with other cost controls and less dilution in R&D costs, and considering the volume, we are confident that we can keep the price of entry-level virtual equipment at around 800,000 yuan."

"In addition to the entry-level model, the high-end version uses four APO4600 graphics cards and four ZY34 chips. The sports posture system will be greatly improved. Our estimated price for this high-end version is about million!"

"The top-end version uses the brand new APO5000 graphics card and ZY38 chip, which have not yet been released to the public, and uses a 4*4 configuration. Other chips and sensors will also use the latest technology products!"

"This top-of-the-line version, which is the mass-produced model of our second-generation prototype, is expected to cost more than three million!"

"The estimated selling prices of the above three versions do not include too much R&D cost. In other words, we do not consider recovering the R&D cost in the early stage. We mainly focus on the parts procurement cost and assembly cost, as well as marketing and logistics costs. We strive to increase sales as much as possible while not losing money!"

Xu Shenxue looked at the report and simply ignored the flagship version that cost over three million. This thing was really expensive, but it was too expensive, so it was destined not to have a large sales volume...

Even the high-end version at 1.5 million is too expensive.

His target is the entry-level version which is expected to sell for 800,000 yuan!

With such a selling price, individual users basically don’t have to expect to get much. This world is a very realistic place, and it doesn’t mean that you can sell a lot of products just because your products are good!
How many high-priced good things can be sold depends on the income and consumption levels of the people in the target market.

But the price of 800,000 is still too expensive!
This price is almost the same as that of a Hailan SEV large SUV, but the sales volume of Hailan SEV is not very high... What's more, cars are still a product with rigid demand, while virtual devices are purely gaming devices for individuals.

Under these many influences, it is destined that virtual devices at the current stage will not have any individual users...at most, only a very small number of wealthy people will buy them, and the number will be relatively limited.

Therefore, in order to sell this thing, we still need to go through the corporate procurement model.

This is also the plan of the marketing department and Qu Xuewen and others... After all, no one is a fool, and they can think of what Xu Shenxue can think of.

Qu Xuewen said: "In terms of market promotion and subsequent sales targets, our main target groups are various training institutions, which use our virtual equipment to replace traditional simulation equipment for training, such as airlines, aviation schools, driving schools and other fields, so that students can get realistic training at a relatively low learning cost!"

"We have already contacted Yihai Technology in this regard. They said they can provide this kind of simulation training software. We only need to make simple modifications to the training software previously provided to military institutions and impose some restrictions. Then we can launch various training software for ordinary aircraft and vehicles!"

The virtual equipment project has always been developed together with Yihai Technology. Zhiyun Group is responsible for hardware and systems, while Yihai Technology provides various contents, including various simulation training software and game software.

The virtual shooting game that Xu Shenxue experienced before was developed by Yihai Technology.

"In addition, military institutions are also our main customer group, and we will increase our efforts to promote them accordingly!"

"However, the market size of the above-mentioned application scenarios for training purposes is still too small to support our huge business needs!"

"Therefore, our main market target is still the virtual game experience center, creating a new era of virtual game Internet cafes!"

"After all, our virtual devices are most suitable for gaming. Their graphics, operation, and motion gestures can give people a very good gaming experience!"

"More importantly, our equipment is expensive, and it is very necessary to reduce the cost of people playing virtual games through the Internet cafe model!"

“Not many people can afford 800,000 yuan to buy equipment, but there will be a lot of people willing to spend 80 or 100 yuan an hour to play virtual games!”

“Even if they are not gamers, most people are willing to pay tens or hundreds of dollars just to experience the virtual world!”

Xu Shenxue nodded and said, "There is nothing wrong with this idea. We can further develop it and put the equipment in various tourist attractions and shopping malls as a tourism project for experiencing the virtual world!"

Qu Xuewen continued, "And our equipment will not always be so expensive. According to our calculations, within three years, the price of existing entry-level virtual equipment is expected to drop to less than 200,000 yuan. By then, we can develop the personal market on a large scale!"

"In the early stage, we promoted the equipment through training institutions, virtual world experience centers, etc., promoted the virtual world, and laid the foundation for the subsequent large-scale virtual equipment to enter the personal consumer market!"

“Considering that our equipment is expensive and the cost of opening experience centers is high, in order to avoid a lack of investors in the early stage, we are also preparing to set up a special subsidiary to open our own flagship virtual world experience centers in important cities to provide potential consumers with product experience, and on the other hand, to explore the operating model of the experience centers!”

Xu Shenxue said: "Well, in this regard, you remind me of the Internet cafes in the early years. Earlier computers also cost thousands or tens of thousands of yuan, but people generally only earned a few hundred yuan and could not afford to buy computers, so the Internet cafe model appeared. This not only promoted the increase in computer sales in China, but also popularized computer applications on a large scale!"

"I remember when I was in school, many of my classmates learned how to use computers through Internet cafes!"

“So the path of virtual gaming internet cafes has great potential!”

"Of course, we should not use the term 'Internet cafe' to lower the brand. We can use terms like 'virtual world' or 'virtual game experience center' instead."

“We need to differentiate our virtual world or games from traditional PC Internet cafes!”

Qu Xuewen also said: "We have also noticed this. In addition to continuing to cooperate with Yihai Technology in the content of the virtual world, we also plan to invite other game or other content developers to provide content support."

"To enrich the content ecology!"

"In terms of the early content, it will still be mainly provided by Yihai Technology, plus some small content products developed by ourselves. If everything goes well, we will complete the preparations around December and then launch it to the market!"

Xu Shenxue said: "December is a good time, I will host the press conference myself then!"

“Before the press conference, remember to build several experience centers in advance, one in each of the first-tier cities in China and the economically developed cities overseas. We can’t hold a press conference without people being able to experience our products!”

Qu Xuewen said: "Don't worry, Mr. Xu. Although our equipment is expensive, it is expensive in the cost of spare parts. However, assembly and production are still quite simple. There is no special production line in the early stage, so it is not difficult to make it by hand."

“The decoration of the experience center is also simple, and two months is enough!”

"In terms of ecological content, Yihai Technology can provide multiple training simulation software and two games, which are enough for initial experience!"

Xu Shenxue said: "That's good, go for it boldly, I'll be waiting for the press conference in December!"

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The next day, Huang Jianian personally convened a meeting of the virtual project team at the headquarters of Yihai Technology Group, a few kilometers away from the headquarters of Zhiyun Group.

"We have been working with Zhiyun on virtual games for a few years. Previously, it was just pure investment with no results. But after years of hard work, it is finally bearing fruit!"

"Zhiyun Group's virtual equipment project team has decided to commercialize virtual equipment, and we will be the only content provider in the early stage. This will be an important strategy for Yihai Technology to move towards the future!"

"In the future, the Internet may not necessarily evolve into a comprehensive virtual Internet, but games will gradually transform into virtual games!"

"The virtual game business represents the future, and this has been proven after Zhiyun Group produced the universal virtual equipment!"

"What we need to do now is to rely on our first-mover advantage to create good content for the virtual world, not just games, but also virtual social networking and other types of virtual content."

"Get on board first and lay our foundation in the virtual realm!"

"Everyone, time is running out, and opportunities don't wait for anyone!"

"The virtual device project team at Zhiyun will not only have us as a supplier. They have already told me clearly that they will formally contact other Internet content manufacturers in the near future, including several domestic competitors, as well as overseas manufacturers such as Google and Facebook, to provide them with virtual device development interfaces so that their content can also be integrated into Zhiyun's virtual devices."

"So next, our virtual project team needs to speed up!"

“First, we need to further improve the existing shooting game “Doomsday Battle” and further adapt it to Zhiyun’s virtual devices, especially to optimize their entry-level devices!”

“Secondly, the cartoon virtual game “Top of the Kingdom” must be optimized within two months and officially launched at their virtual device launch conference!”

“And those simulation software also need to be adapted and optimized!”

"In addition to these key projects, we will develop several simple experience-based mini-games or software as soon as possible. The content doesn't need to be too much, but the graphics must be perfect, and the physical collision and other features must be good, so as to simulate a real world as much as possible for people!"

"We boldly adopted the second-generation simulation engine provided by Zhiyun for development, and added all kinds of extreme images and physical special effects. We don't have to worry about their equipment not being able to handle it!"

Server GPUs at the APO4600 level provide comprehensive computing power, coupled with a combination of multiple top-level consumer graphics cards... and the CPU and memory are also top-notch.

This level of computing power is sufficient to support any content developed by Yihai Technology using simulation games.

Speaking of this simulation game engine, it was developed by Zhiyun Software Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Zhiyun Group, in cooperation with the virtual project team.

The content created using this simulation game, whether it is a virtual game or any other virtual content, requires enormous computing power to support it, and ordinary computers simply cannot handle it!
Huang Jianian has great ambitions: "Zhiyun wants to detonate the virtual equipment market, and we want to detonate the virtual content market!"

"Just like in the past, Zhiyun makes smartphones and we make mobile games!"

The rise of Yihai Technology was due to the development of Zhiyun Group's mobile phone business in the early days. As Zhiyun Group's mobile phones were sold all over the world, Yihai Technology's mobile games also went global. This laid the foundation for Yihai Technology. Finally, relying on the huge success of its mobile game business, Yihai Technology gradually expanded to other areas of the Internet, entering the fields of mobile browsers, map navigation, long videos, and e-commerce, and then entered the field of short videos. It used the success of the short video field to expand comprehensively in multiple fields such as e-commerce, advertising, and games.

This ultimately laid the foundation for Yihai Technology's current annual revenue of tens of billions of dollars.

Among several large-scale Internet companies in China, the others have basically emerged in the PC era, but Yihai Technology is the only one that has risen in the mobile Internet era.

Later, Zhiyun Group said that it was going to develop virtual equipment, including various AR equipment and VR equipment in the early stage, which made Huang Jianian see a new path for the future!

He believes that the Internet of the future must be a virtual Internet!

Therefore, he actively pushed the company to cooperate with Zhiyun Group to develop various virtual content, even though the virtual content business has been outflowing for many years and has not made a penny, and it still requires a large amount of investment every year.

But he still chose to take a gamble with Zhiyun's virtual project team!
How to say it, Zhiyun Group dares to invest billions of dollars in the field of virtual equipment, and Yihai Technology also dares to invest heavily in the field of virtual content!
Follow the lead and take a gamble, you won’t lose much!

Even if you don’t believe in yourself, you must believe in Xu Shenxue!

This statement has also been recognized by several other top Internet companies.

Xu Shenxue has developed a virtual device and wants to commercialize it?

They didn't believe the news at first...It's no secret that Zhiyun Group is developing virtual equipment. They publicly announced a virtual equipment project many years ago.

Last year, Zhiyun Group developed the first generation of prototypes and produced a batch of them for various tests. Although the news has not been made public, there have been some gossips in the industry.

However, many people believe that although Zhiyun Group’s virtual equipment has made great technological progress, it will definitely not be ready for commercial use so quickly.

However, what was unexpected was that Zhiyun Group took only one year to significantly upgrade the first-generation prototype, and now it is ready for commercial use.

Zhiyun Group even sent them a formal invitation for cooperation. Zhiyun Group opened the virtual content development interface to them and invited them to develop corresponding virtual content for virtual devices.

This shocked them!

The same is true even abroad. Gugou also received an invitation for cooperation. The Gugou team held a small meeting and after some discussion, they were shocked by the rapid progress of Zhiyun Group's virtual project. At the same time, they quickly organized technical personnel to form a virtual content project team, preparing to use the development software and corresponding interfaces provided by Zhiyun Group, including the simulation game engine, to develop virtual content.

Coincidentally, Facebook and even Microsoft have received cooperation invitations from Zhiyun Group!
Zhiyun Group is a hardware-based manufacturer. They only develop virtual devices, systems, and platforms, but they do not create content themselves... There is too much content and it is too troublesome. A single company cannot do much. It needs to get everyone involved to do it together.

Of course, there is no need to worry that Zhiyun Group will not benefit if it does not produce content!
On virtual devices, Zhiyun Group has adopted the "toll booth model" as always. All content can only be downloaded and used on the official platform, and then Zhiyun Group and content providers share the profits.

Relying on this model, Zhiyun Group has earned considerable revenue from software and Internet businesses!
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In an area of ​​high-end shopping malls in the city center of Shenzhen, right next to the Zhiyun flagship experience store, a huge two-story shop has been fenced off and construction workers have begun to enter to carry out renovations.

Because the store is huge and the rent for stores in this area is extremely expensive, it has attracted the attention of many people, who are curious about what such a large store is used for.

However, the construction workers and even the project manager did not know what the store was used for. They just knew that it was somewhat related to Zhiyun.

And what is Zhiyun going to do?
Zhiyun also has a flagship store. It’s a huge flagship store right opposite. On the left is the smart terminal flagship store, and on the right is the smart robot flagship store.

Now there is a huge flagship store next door? The key is what to sell?
Ordinary people naturally have no way of knowing, but some news will gradually spread out in the industry. After all, Zhiyun Group is preparing to hold a press conference for the sale, is looking for various suppliers to cooperate, and has also begun to apply for various patents.

In this way, various information will be circulated to some extent.

In mid-October, a domestic self-media reporter with a very sensitive nose who closely followed Zhiyun Group collected a large amount of public information. After sorting and combining this information, he made a very bold inference: Zhiyun Group is going to release a virtual device!
"Reporters have always been very concerned about the research and development progress of Zhiyun Group's virtual equipment!"

"However, after Zhiyun Group announced its plan to develop virtual devices, there has been no clear public information for many years. However, I have carefully read Zhiyun Group's talent recruitment plans over the years, and found that the recruitment of talents in the field of virtual terminals has never stopped, and the scope is continuously expanding!"

"At the same time, the reporter also contacted Zhiyun's internal personnel and learned that Zhiyun's virtual business department has been continuously expanding. It is reported that at least 5,000 employees work in the virtual business department, including many top technical experts in the industry!"

"Last year, there was a rumor circulating in the market that Zhiyun Group had developed a virtual device, but the source of the news was unclear and there was not much information, so we couldn't determine whether it was true or not, nor could we know what type of virtual device it was. At that time, many people thought that it might be a new type of VR helmet display or something like that."

"But Zhiyun Group has not confirmed the news!"

"Recently, reporters have heard rumors from different sources in the industry that Zhiyun Group is looking for a large number of suppliers for its virtual equipment, especially content suppliers. I am sure that the top domestic Internet companies have received cooperation invitations from Zhiyun Group!"

"However, because the project is in a highly confidential stage, reporters are currently unable to find out what the virtual equipment and virtual content are!"

“However, judging from most of the public information of these Internet companies, especially the virtual world development report released by Yihai Technology in the first half of the year, these virtual contents are very likely to be built on a VR helmet display, not virtual devices and content based on brain-connected interface technology, similar to the virtual helmets in science fiction novels as people have discussed before!”

"There is currently relatively large information indicating that Yihai Technology has cooperated with Zhiyun Group to develop a virtual game, and this game has even begun testing last year!"

"Of course, we don't know the specifics!"

"The only thing we can be sure of is that Yihai Technology really has a virtual game project, and has achieved certain results!"

"So, what does a virtual device equipped with Yihai Technology's virtual games look like?"

"A virtual helmet or virtual cabin that directly relies on some kind of brain-computer connection technology? Like what is described in science fiction novels?"

"Or is it just a type of VR technology, an upgraded version of the VR helmet that Zhiyun once released, perhaps with gesture control or other control modes added!"

"Or maybe it's like the one described in the movie Ready Player One, a virtual device paired with an omnidirectional treadmill?"

"There is too little information at present, so we don't know, but we can basically judge that it is unlikely to be a virtual device based on brain-computer connection technology... If there is such a device, the medical community would have used it long ago. However, the brain-computer connection technology announced by Zhiyun Group in July still adopts an implantable technology route. Although it has a certain feasibility, it is still too far away from large-scale practical application!"

"The most likely possibility is an upgraded version of some VR device. Of course, Zhiyun Group has always liked to come up with all kinds of black technologies. Perhaps we can expect Zhiyun Group's virtual device to be similar to the one in the movie Ready Player One!"

"There is too little information available at the moment, and we don't know much, but it is highly likely that Zhiyun Group will soon launch a new virtual device!"

"Let's wait and see!"

When this reporter wrote the article, he also released a large amount of public information from various companies, including news about Zhiyun Group and Yihai Technology, and even some patent applications from patent agencies, further proving the authenticity of the article.

This article also attracted a lot of people's attention. While many people were discussing it intensively, they were also looking for ideas along this line of thought.

Although Zhiyun Group's virtual device project is also a confidential project, this confidentiality is limited to the product form, when to release, etc., but there is no confidentiality about the virtual device project itself. After all, this is just a regular business project and it cannot be considered top secret.

More importantly, once this thing is made public, there is no need to worry about you plagiarizing it!

This omnidirectional virtual device developed by Zhiyun Group is actually a VR helmet display plus an omnidirectional treadmill, and then plus sensors and the like. If you look at each one separately, it is actually possible with current technical conditions.

The question is how to combine them.

In particular, how to allow users to seamlessly match the omnidirectional treadmill when playing games...to prevent people from suddenly becoming incompatible with the omnidirectional treadmill while walking and falling...this seemingly inconspicuous thing is actually the core technology.

Because this requires the application of underlying big data technology, or artificial intelligence, it requires the collection of a large amount of data and repeated training of the algorithm, and then it can instantly judge the user's movement posture and allow the omnidirectional treadmill to cooperate!
This places very high demands on the algorithm.

Just like Zhiyun Robot, hardware is not considered black technology, algorithms are black technology. Zhiyun Robot sells algorithms rather than hardware... If the algorithm is given to Google, they can create a similar intelligent robot in minutes.

Zhiyun Group’s core technological advantage in recent years has been artificial intelligence technology... and intelligent robots are the best embodiment of this.

In addition, there is the autonomous driving technology developed in cooperation with Hailan Automobile, the AI ​​fighter jets developed in cooperation with relevant institutions, the low-altitude drones from Xiaojiang Technology, the AI ​​reconnaissance drones from Dongning Technology, the swarm drones, etc., all of which are developed based on artificial intelligence technology.

There are still no publicly commercialized quantum computers. The core technology of Zhiyun Group's quantum computers is not even superconducting materials. Instead, it uses big data models to forcibly identify, correct, and manipulate quantum bits, thereby achieving more controllable quantum bits. This is a technical route that is to some extent a powerful force.

Artificial intelligence is not as simple as generative AI. Generative AI is only the most basic and simplest surface application. Artificial intelligence technology or big data model technology is mainly used in the industrial field and the field of smart terminals.

Now, Zhiyun Group is applying artificial intelligence technology in the field of virtual equipment... and as long as it is named as artificial intelligence, other companies outside will basically not be able to copy it.

Simply copying a hardware without the underlying artificial intelligence is useless!
Therefore, the real confidentiality is actually the confidentiality of artificial intelligence technology, rather than the virtual device as a carrier.

This allowed many interested people in the outside world to collect some information about Zhiyun Group's virtual devices through public or private information collection.

People discovered that Zhiyun Group is serious about virtual equipment...

This discovery aroused great interest among many people in the industry and media professionals, and even caused a sensation.

So much so that at the daily press conferences held by Zhiyun Group, reporters began asking questions related to virtual devices.

On previous occasions, Zhiyun Group’s spokesperson avoided talking about it!
However, as the voices outside grew louder, the marketing department also believed that it was appropriate to release some news to warm up the market.

Therefore, at the latest round of Zhiyun Group’s routine press conference in November, in response to reporters’ repeated questions, the Zhiyun Group’s spokesperson officially acknowledged the authenticity of the news.

"We at Zhiyun Group started developing virtual devices many years ago. We have now completed the development of mass-produced models and are preparing for commercialization."

“As for the specific information, please wait for the virtual equipment launch conference in December!”

For the first time, Zhiyun Group publicly admitted that it would soon release a virtual device. The news quickly spread around the world and caused a huge stir!
A certain large portal website used most of the space on its homepage to report this news, and also used an exaggerated headline: Zhiyun Group's new black technology virtual device is about to hit the market!

(End of this chapter)